An organic electroluminescent element is an element including a pair of electrodes and an organic compound layer disposed therebetween. In a known configuration, a pair of electrodes constitutes a reflective electrode having a metal reflective layer and a transparent electrode. In recent years, organic electroluminescent elements that operate at low voltage have attracted attention. These organic electroluminescent elements have been put into practical use in light-emitting apparatuses such as low-profile displays, lighting instruments, head mounted displays, and electrophotographic printer print head light sources, where excellent features, for example, surface emission characteristics, light weight, and visibility, are utilized.
In particular, there is an increasing demand for a higher-definition organic electroluminescent display apparatus, and a system in which a white organic electroluminescent element and a color filter are used (hereafter referred to as a white+CF system) is known. In the white+CF system, an organic compound layer is deposited on the entire surface of a substrate by evaporation and, therefore, has a high yield compared with a system in which a high-definition metal mask is used. In addition, high definition is relatively readily realized because it is not necessary that pixel size and pixel pitch are taken into consideration.
Meanwhile, the white+CF system is not able to have an optimum output structure on a per-color basis. As a result, light-output efficiency is low, and a brightness factor resulting from absorption by a color filter is reduced. Therefore, realization of a high-efficiency white organic electroluminescent element capable of reducing power consumption has been desired.
PTL 1 describes a white+CF system light-emitting apparatus that exhibits low power consumption and high color purity, where a production process is suppressed from becoming complex. More specifically, it is disclosed that interference structures between colors are appropriately designed by forming a reinforcing conductive film on a transparent electrode layer with respect to only a blue-light-emitting pixel.
Meanwhile, PTL 2 discloses that corrosion and formation of a surface oxide film of a first electrode of an organic light-emitting element are suppressed by covering the first electrode with a coating layer. In this regard, it is disclosed that the coating layer exposed at an insulating film, in other words the coating layer in a light-emitting region, is removed. This is for the purpose of suppressing a reduction in reflectance of the first electrode.